Hi, I am a US citizen who is currently in Brussels, Belgium on a tourist stamp. I have been offered a freelance position, and I have already been to 4 different governemnt offices today. I am in need of a professional card for foreigners, which requires a criminal baackground check from the US. The problem is that I am in Belgium, and not able to return to the US and accept the job. The state department's website sent me to the FBI website, which outlined the procedure as me having to send in a form and a fingerprint card. The problem is that to process this, it can take up to 8 weeks. There is no way to pay a fee and get expedited service, and I simply don't have 2 months to wait for this thing. Has anyone been in a similar situation with obtaining these reports? Mine will be boring (a.k.a. clean), so nothing to worry about there. It doesn't appear that the US counsulate can do much, but I'll have to call them to see. Aside from maybe contacting interpol, to maybe get something from them, I can't see a way around this, and I'm sure they will ask for it before much else. Thanks for any help!

sorry, I forgot to also mention that my last place of residence in the US was San Francisco. I checked the website for their police dept. and didn't see anything about a criminal background check, let alone how to get one from abroad.

Contact the California State Police and ask if they can forward you a clean record form. It's a state function, not national or city (and Interpol will have nothing for you unless you are an international criminal).

Hi, I am a US citizen who is currently in Brussels, Belgium on a tourist stamp. I have been offered a freelance position, and I have already been to 4 different governemnt offices today. I am in need of a professional card for foreigners, which requires a criminal baackground check from the US. The problem is that I am in Belgium, and not able to return to the US and accept the job. The state department's website sent me to the FBI website, which outlined the procedure as me having to send in a form and a fingerprint card. The problem is that to process this, it can take up to 8 weeks. There is no way to pay a fee and get expedited service, and I simply don't have 2 months to wait for this thing. Has anyone been in a similar situation with obtaining these reports? Mine will be boring (a.k.a. clean), so nothing to worry about there. It doesn't appear that the US counsulate can do much, but I'll have to call them to see. Aside from maybe contacting interpol, to maybe get something from them, I can't see a way around this, and I'm sure they will ask for it before much else. Thanks for any help!

FBI checks seem to take forever. I sent mine in from overseas in mid July, still nothing.

You'll have to get fingerprinted, send the info to the FBI, but that's not it paperwork, so much fun. After that it has to be sent to the DEPT of State, in WDC.

Here's the fun paper trail,
from overseas to the FBI
from the FBI to my parents
From my parents to the Dept of State
From the Dept of State to my parents
From my parents to me.

I got 2 last year and they both took 4 months. Cant' speed things up.

I've gone directly to interpol before and they just send the stuff to the FBI, takes about the same amount of time.